The awards namesake, Roger W. Jones (1908 – 1993), was a federal civil servant who helped direct the Office of Management and Budget in the 1940s and 1950s.[3] In 1978, Bernard Rosen, a former United States Civil Service Commission executive director, graduate instructor at the American University, and subsequent author of the 1984 book Holding Government Bureaucracies Accountable,[4] helped start American University's Roger W. Jones Award for Executive Leadership in federal government.[5] In 2002, Victor J. Ferlise, United States Army Deputy to the Commanding General, Communications Electronic Command, received the award on September 24, which marked the 25th anniversary of the award.[6]